People with diabetes

Diabetes is emerging as a serious public-health problem in South Africa, particularly in the urban areas, where social welfare and health systems are precarious, and there is a lack of access to appropriate health information. Diabetes South Africa (DSA), established in 1969, advocates for the rights of all people with diabetes in the country.

Diabetes is increasingly common worldwide, and Kenya is no exception. The Ministry of Health estimates the prevalence of diabetes to be around 10% (3.5 million people). The cause of much human suffering, diabetes also places a considerable economic burden on individuals and families, and healthcare systems.

In Africa, there is said to be one traditional healer to every 200 people; an estimated 80% of people in the continent turn to traditional medicine as a source of primary care, including those with diabetes. In settings that are characterized by shortcomings in healthcare provision resources, traditional healers are making selective use of biomedical knowledge and language to enhance the perceived effectiveness of their treatments.

Sudan is the largest country in Africa and one of the poorest in the world. Its population is estimated at around 37 million; the capital Khartoum, with approximately 6 million inhabitants, is growing rapidly. There are hundreds of ethnic and tribal divisions and language groups within the two distinct major cultures in Sudan – Arabs with Nubian roots and non-Arab Black Africans. The lack of effective collaboration among these groups continues to be a serious problem.

The International Diabetes Federation is engaged in a global strategic plan to raise awareness of diabetes. One of the principal tools to help unite awareness-raising efforts worldwide is IDF’s World Diabetes Day campaign. Spread over 12 months, the campaign climaxes in the World Diabetes Day celebrations that take place on or around 14 November. World Diabetes Day offers a unique opportunity for the global diabetes community to celebrate the lives of people with diabetes and raise awareness of the condition among the general public and healthcare decision makers.

There are more than 375 million indigenous people in the world. The guardians of a rich knowledge of the natural world, intricate cultivation systems, animal husbandry, and the use of traditional medicines, they represent a treasure of cultural diversity, including more than half the world’s 5000 to 6000 languages. Indigenous people practice innumerable ways of living together with respect for fellow human beings and the environment. But it is estimated that within the next two decades, as indigenous communities continue to be decimated – in many cases driven

Diabetes is affecting more and more people every year. In the last decade, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes of one kind or another increased by almost 50%. By the year 2025, more than 300 million people around the world could have been diagnosed with the condition. Many others who have diabetes will not have been diagnosed. Diabetes also represents a major threat to the health of the world’s millions of migrants, who appear to be at greater risk of developing diabetes than non-migrants. Manuel Carballo and Frederik Siem report.

In 2003, a 16-year-old girl with diabetes had an idea which looks set to change the face of diabetes. Not long after his election as President-Elect of the International Diabetes Federation, Martin Silink was approached by Clare Rosenfeld, who spoke of her dream of a United Nations Resolution on diabetes. Inspired by Clare’s dream, Martin Silink spent the subsequent two years gauging the opinion of the diabetes stakeholders and garnering worldwide support for a UN Resolution. He

Type 2 diabetes is at epidemic proportions among Aboriginal people in Canada – around 15% of the Aboriginal population from 15 years and older. During the 1980s, healthcare providers at the local hospital in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory near Montreal, Quebec, noticed high rates of diabetes among people with cardiovascular

In a significant number of people, both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes progress to the development of vascular complications and ultimately